Author Topic: 1948 and 2016 similar elections, but different reactions  (Read 769 times)

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Offline franksolich

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1948 and 2016 similar elections, but different reactions
« on: April 23, 2019, 12:05:09 PM »
In case anyone's forgotten or never knew, in 1948 the incumbent Democrat president Harry Truman ran against the Republican challenger governor Thomas Dewey of New York.

Because by then the country had been governed by New Deal Democrats for sixteen years and the people were ready for a change, it was generally assumed the Republican would win.

In fact, it got so that Democrats tried persuading Truman to name a Republican Secretary of State, and then resign, the Secretary of State taking over as president. The most prominent of these Democrats arguing for this was that liberal icon Senator J. William Fulbright (D-Arkansas), later of Vietnam surrender fame.

Gallup stopped polling in mid-September 1948, saying it was a waste of time, because Dewey was going to beat Truman anyway. The news media had a field day showing massive crowds for Dewey, sparse ones for Truman.

About the only person who thought Truman had a chance was Harry Truman.

Newspapers--the Chicago Tribune not being the only one--were printed the afternoon of election day, headlined DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN.

Oooooooops......

Truman was thereafter acknowledged and admired as a lone wolf hero who'd beaten the odds, and is still viewed the same way seventy years later, in our history books.

Cuddly Feisty Fighting Harry.

- - - - -

In 2016, history repeated itself.

But how come Donald Trump never got the Harry Truman treatment? Anybody know?
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